Lucky

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My class is so lucky.
This term we’re learning about lifecycles,
so my teacher brought in some tadpoles-
three big black commas
swimming around in a plastic aquarium
right beside our desks.

We named them
Freddo,
Kermit
and Spot.

Freddo was the first to grow
stumps
legs
more legs
then his tail shrunk
until his body was a fat full stop.

‘But what do we do with our frog?’
asked Mrs Chugg with a frown.
My hand shot up quicker than a speeding mosquito.
‘I’ve got a pond!’
So, she poked some holes in a butter tub
and sent Freddo home with me.
‘Lucky duck,’ said Ben.

I carried my precious passenger
down the street
around the back
then knelt beside our weedy pond
and gently tipped him in.

Freddo swam to a lily pad
half scrambled on and gazed around
at the water
reeds
insects
and grassy bank
before frog-kicking into the murky depths.

Compared to Kermit and Spot
with their four plastic walls,
I’d say he’s pretty lucky.

© Kristin Martin 2017

A version of this poem is in my poetry book, To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme (Glimmer Press, 2019).

76 thoughts on “Lucky”

  2. Hi Kristin,
    This poem is so cool! When we walk around the lake near our house we see frogs sometimes, but only if we are LUCKY! Haha get it! Today when we went for a walk we didn’t come across any frogs but I hope to see them soon! Thank you for all the hard work you put into writing these amazing poems!

    Love Clara

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    • You’re welcome, Clara!

      I would love to see some frogs in the wild. I think you are very lucky! I hear frogs when I go for a walk to the wetlands, but I never see them. We did have some frogs in our pond for a while (I was the lucky one who took them home from the school I work at) but I didn’t see them after a few months.

      Kristin

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  3. Hey Kristin
    I love the names you called your frog and I also I love tadpoles because they are so cute. I would love a frog as a pet.

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  5. hi kristin
    i liked you poem so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it whould be lucky if it was a freddo frog {chocolate}.

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  6. Hi Kristin
    I think that it would’ve been more lucky if it was a Freddo Frog {Chocolate}. You’re poem was excellent!!!!!!!I would rate this a four. I remember when I was in yr 2 the teacher brought in tadpoles, Stick insects and earth worms, so whenever we felt sad or we had free time we were allowed to hold the earthworms or the stick insects.
    Yenuli

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    • Hi Yenuli,

      Thanks for your comment. I named the frog after the chocolate frog, but it definitely wasn’t made of chocolate! The class that had these frogs and inspired the poem was a year 2 class.

      Kristin

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  7. Hi Kristin
    This poem is amazing, and you are so good at writing poems. I love how you said that Freddo was the luckiest because I think he was. I am just curious, where did you think of the names for the frogs?

    Tharusha

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    • Hi Tharusha,

      Thank you!

      I got the frog’s name from the chocolate Freddo frog. They were my favourite when I was young. Kermit is from the Muppets, which was one of my favourite TV shows when I was young. Spot got its name because it had spots.

      Kristin

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  8. Hi Kristin
    I liked how you said that out of all the three frogs, Freddo was one of the luckiest. he had a pond while the other two were stuck in the plastic walls.
    Thanks for the great poem Kristin.

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  9. Hi Kristen

    Your poem was amazing!! Freddo is very one lucky frog because I don’t think he really enjoyed being in plastic box.
    Thinara

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  10. Hi Kristin

    I liked this poem because my 10 th favorite animal is a frog. Did you just come up with the name Freddo or did you take the name from the chocolate frog?

    Dinidu

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  11. Hi Kristin
    I like the way you thought of the name freddo. Did you just randomly think of it or did you get it from the chocolate frogs?

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    • Hi Nuwin,

      I got the name from the chocolate frog. It was one of my favourite chocolates when I was at school!

      Did you recognise the name ‘Kermit’?

      Kristin

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  12. Hi Kristin,
    I like the way you did a poem about frogs. I’m kind of scared of frogs. Also I like the names you used in this poem.

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  13. I loved how you used the name Freddo for one of the frogs as I do know that that is the name of a chocolate frog. It is quite lucky that Freddo grew up so fast as he got many benefits as a result.

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  14. this poem was very fun to read, i love frogs!(they are cute) my favourite colour is green too. I love reading your poems!

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  19. Hello Kristen!
    I kind of think that you would be lucky because you got to take Freddo home, but Freddo would be luckier because like you said, he gets a whole pond and Kermit and Spot is stuck at School. I like reading long poems; they satisfy me so keep up the good work! What inspired you to write this poem? I’m guessing something that happened at School one day.

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    • Hi Thisali,

      I am a teacher, and one of the classes at my school had tadpoles. When they changed into frogs I offered to take them home and put them in my pond. That gave me the idea for the poem.

      Kristin

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  20. Hi Kristin
    I feel like this little frog was very lucky because he was taken home. When I was in year two my teacher brought in Earthworms, Tadpoles and stick insects. I remember when you did something good you got to choose if you wanted to hold a stick insect or an earthworm.

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  23. Hello Kristin
    This is a long poem. It sounds very lucky. I had a frog it died unluckily, but it turns out it was still alive it just needed some more air in it’s container. But we let it go so that it could be free. Well I guess frogs are still lucky.
    From Lysha

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    • Hi Kristin
      I really like the poem. It’s really creative and intriguing! Is it based on a true event?

      Tharusha

      Reply ↓

      • Hi Tharusha,

        Yes, it is. Mrs Chugg is my friend, and I was the lucky person who took the frogs home to my pond (although I’m not a student in her class).

        Kristin

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  31. Hi
    This year when my class learnt about life cycles we kept meal worms.They went into cocoons and came out as beetles and last year we caught two tadpoles. We named them Charlie and Costa.

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    • Hi Harry,

      I like to write science poems! This one is based on a year two teacher I know, Mrs Chugg, and her class. I made up some of it- I’m not really in her class. Though I did put the frog in my pond!

      Kristin

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